Santa Paula moves forward with districting process
The city of Santa Paula is in the process of carving out council districts and will host a community workshop on Saturday.
The city is moving to voter-based districts after it received a letter in February 2021 threatening a lawsuit over at-large elections.
On Wednesday, the Santa Paula City Council narrowed down 14 proposed district maps to six, getting rid of maps that didn't meet legal requirements or had boundaries that were not contiguous. Officials said the public can still provide comments on maps the council eliminated from consideration.
A workshop to review the latest draft maps is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Santa Paula Youth Center, Las Piedras Park, 431 N. 13th St.
Most of the 20 people who spoke at the meeting were from the Central Coast Alliance Unified for a Sustainable Economy, or CAUSE. They were in support of two maps, numbered 104 and 105, that maintain historical neighborhoods and boundaries.
Nidia Bello, a CAUSE policy advocate, said the group drove through the city to find natural boundaries like Ojai Road, Highway 126, Virginia Terrace and Steckel Drive.
District elections ensure every neighborhood has a strong representative that residents can know deeply, Bello said.
"This is a brave step forward to make elections and democracy more accessible to voters, especially working-class people of color," Bello said.
Four of the 14 maps were submitted by a consulting firm hired by the city. The other 10, including maps 104 and 105, were submitted by the public.
A public agency can be sued under the federal Voting Rights Act if it can be proved that votes of minority residents are diluted in an at-large election, according to a staff report.
The City Council currently has five members elected at large to serve staggered four-year terms, with a rotating mayoral position.
That means all Santa Paula residents have historically voted for council candidates citywide. In a district-based system, they will only vote for a representative in their geographic district. The mayoral position would continue to rotate among the five elected members.
Two residents who spoke Wednesday were not in favor of establishing council districts.
"We should be working together to elect city council members to take the entire city into account," said Richard Rudman. "There is no guarantee that districting will do this."
Councilmembers Leslie Cornejo and Carlos Juarez said they were uncertain about district voting but would move forward with the process.
"I have reservations about how this will work to create more civic engagement," Cornejo said.
The city is legally required to put two districts up for election in 2024 and three districts up for election in 2026, said Justin Levitt of the National Demographic Corp., one of two firms hired by the city to help with the district process.
The city has allocated approximately $100,000 to help with the districting process.
According to the 2020 Census, there are about 30,657 people living in Santa Paula. Hispanics make up 82% of the population.
The final deadline for residents to draw and submit their own maps is 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 1. Maps can be viewed and drawn at https://drawsantapaula.org/Draft-Maps/.
A fourth public hearing to adopt a map is set for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at City Hall, 970 E. Ventura St.
Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Paula moves forward with districting process
